The shop is organized chaos

It’s my character to embrace a state of flux. And perhaps a flaw to have the desire to pursue most things involving the construct of material. If I were to describe my life by ‘the act of spinning plates’,.. well, I get excited about all the physical conditions. The size and mass of each plate. The interface where the spinning meets the non-spinning. What is the friction coefficient? How will that change if I transfer this plate from my elbow to my shoe? Can I BUILD something that is reliable enough to spin this plate upon? Who else can I share this spinning with? While some might find the act of plate spinning to be a form of entertainment for others, I find it to be the pursuit of life. And though I find it highly intrinsically rewarding I believe I have found a way to convert this energy to others in the form of rewards too.

Adams House Renovation

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I approach a remodel project similar to the way you’d dig a hole. What I mean is, as you look at the work ahead, you begin to size yourself up against the conditions. Knowing that everything you demolish must be rebuilt. Similarly, digging is the process of forcing your shovel into the soil and then removing the load. The ground hardness determines how deep I can get into the job. And then comes all these personal skills that will define the struggles. Strength, which can be aided with knowledge of the tool and how to best use leverage. But how do you know you’re done digging a hole? When you have no dirt left in it.

Every surface in this project has been addressed in one way or another. Not only has each surfaces been renewed but structure has been manipulated and program has been altered. 

Custom Wet Bar

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My mission for this wet bar was 'resourceful/reclaimed'. Given the nature of a wet bar as a luxury or an accessory (In a house without the luxury price tag) we had to keep cost down but reflect the unwillingness to sacrifice craft. These doors were made from reclaimed redwood fence boards. I got them free of Craigslist. The method of slicing them up into inconsistent thicknesses allowed for a visual depth variance to the doors adding one of the many tactical elements to the complete project. Using leather to create the pulls makes for pleasing experience with a juxtaposition of a soft, smooth and malleable material affixed to a rigid planar element. Where, even without looking you can understand it's need to swing on a single axis while still being forgiving with its human contact.  The concrete countertop was formed using extra wood flooring giving a woodgrain texture. We consciously chose to let the concrete take on the natural organic process of being a poured, loose solid and embrace the post evidence of such journey. forcing concrete to take on a perfect surface quality neglects the evidence of process and isn't genuine in nature.

Masonry

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From building retaining walls in the hard caliche of the Arizona desert to the resistant silts of the Pacific northwest, the principles of how such a form works in holding back the earth are the same. Resist lateral translation. It is everything else, other than the principles that change when comparing the two different climates and geology. I have built retaining walls in both of these conditions and the known factors certainly alter the approach for construction. Hydrostatic pressure is a common enemy of the structure of a retaining wall. This wall here, built in Portland, OR will, among others, be subject to the amount of water the thick clay/silt is capable of holding. However, as it applies to the dry permeable desert soil in Arizona, hydrostatic pressure is not so much the enemy but almost the opposite in it's dry climate. Since the rock will allow water to flow through it and drain we are faced with another problem. The dryness it's self disassembling our work.

Concrete / live edge table

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This table was exciting to anticipate building. Materials are something that give me an enjoyable challenge in understanding. Steel, concrete, and wood. This project was a small structural case study in its own right.